Chapter 89 Mid-Autumn Festival Steamed Mooncakes
After leaving the supply and marketing building, when they were only seven or eight meters away from the corner where they had agreed to meet with their elder sister, Jiang Haitang handed the things to Lu Liangchen.
"I'm going to buy something up front, you wait here for me."
Lu Liangchen looked over and saw a middle-aged woman. Although he couldn't see her appearance clearly, he knew that this was a private transaction.
"Why don't I go? I'm worried it's not safe." Lu Liangchen said.
"It's okay, you're here. You can come anytime if you have any questions."
If someone suddenly changes people at this time, the eldest sister might get nervous and be easily exposed.
In her previous life, Jiang Haitang had done this kind of thing before.
She could tell that this older sister just wanted to make some money.
Lu Liangchen nodded and stood under the big tree next to him waiting.
Jiang Haitang walked a few steps away from her eldest sister and asked with a surprised smile, "Cousin, why are you here?"
The middle-aged woman was surprised at first, but then she reacted and said quickly, "Cousin, I just said I was going to look for you, and I happened to see you."
"Cousin, do you have something to ask me?"
"It's nothing serious. It's not a festival. I brought some vegetables and fruits from home."
As the woman spoke, she opened the backpack at her feet. Jiang Haitang saw that the basket was filled with red dates and grapes, which looked very fresh.
She estimated it and found it was about the same weight as the woman said.
The woman pointed to a basket of eggs next to her and said, "My mother asked me to bring this to you to say thank you for your help last time."
Jiang Haitang smiled and said, "We are all relatives. Aunt is too polite."
The two people were talking to each other excitedly. Someone nearby looked at them suspiciously for a few seconds and then left.
Jiang Haitang took out some money from her bag, pretended to hold the woman's hand, and took the opportunity to stuff the money into her hand.
"I'll take these things without hesitation." Jiang Haitang said this loudly, then lowered her voice: "The extra money can be regarded as buying a backpack and a basket."
The woman nodded. "Then I'll go back first. I have things to do at home. I'm lucky today and didn't have to walk much."
When Jiang Haitang saw the woman turn around, he quickly looked at the money in his hand.
To facilitate the transaction, Jiang Haitang gave her a five-dollar note and a one-dollar note, a total of six dollars.
After confirming that everything was correct, the woman left.
Jiang Haitang carried the backpack and basket and returned to Lu Liangchen.
"let's go."
"Give me the thing, it looks heavy to me."
Lu Liangchen reached out to take the backpack from Jiang Haitang.
"It's okay, I'll carry you for a while, you're holding the baby."
The two returned to the family compound with bags full of stuff. They met a few people on the way and joked with them, saying that they were treating the festival as the Chinese New Year and had bought so many good things.
"This is the first year for Haitang and I to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in the factory, so naturally we have to take it more seriously." Lu Liangchen replied with a smile.
After arriving home, Jiang Haitang didn't even take a rest and went to the cafeteria with the basin of noodles.
Lu Liangchen looked at the big bowl of noodles and said, "I'll help you deliver it. It's such a big bowl."
"Well, I'll get something else."
Xiao Taozi immediately followed up: "I want to go too, I want to go too!"
"Okay, take our little peach with you."
Zhang Shangwen saw the three people coming together and teased, "This little life has already started."
Lu Liangchen placed the basin on the chopping board and said, "If you say a few more words, Haitang will be shy again."
"Uncle Zhang, can we start now?"
"You can do your own thing. Old man, take a rest first."
Zhang Shangwen sat in the rocking chair and played with Xiao Taozi.
Xiao Taozi often comes to the cafeteria and has become familiar with Zhang Shangwen. The old and the young have a lot of fun playing together.
Jiang Haitang washed her hands, poured out the noodles from the basin, added alkaline water, and prepared to knead the noodles.
Lu Liangchen also washed his hands and said, "You are weak, I will knead the dough."
Jiang Haitang made way. It was indeed a bit difficult for her to knead such a large dough.
The dough was quickly kneaded into a smooth consistency under Lu Liangchen's hands.
Jiang Haitang pinched off a small piece of dough, spread it with turmeric and sesame oil, and threw it into the steamer.
After a while, Jiang Haitang opened a corner of the steamer and picked out the dough for testing with chopsticks.
The bright yellow turmeric was so tempting that Xiao Taozi couldn't help swallowing her saliva.
Jiang Haitang smiled and said, "It's perfect. Little Peach, here you go. Let it cool down and eat it."
Little Taozi took it happily and blew air into it with her pouting lips.
"When my parents were still alive when I was little, I would follow my mother around like little Taozi, just waiting for a bite of this."
Jiang Haitang seemed to be missing something, and also seemed to be recalling something.
"But, later on, I never felt this kind of happiness again. We were very poor during those years, and I could only afford to make one mooncake each, and I would just smell it."
Jiang Haitang couldn't bear to eat the mooncakes that were filled with sugar and oil. She felt stupid when she thought about it now.
"I won't do that anymore. From now on, you can eat whatever flavor you want. No need to save."
Lu Liangchen kneaded the dough vigorously. His little girl had suffered a lot over the years.
Jiang Haitang looked at Lu Liangchen and suddenly laughed.
Lu Liangchen didn't understand why the little girl who was just reminiscing about the past suddenly stared at him and smiled.
"What's wrong?"
"You got some on your face. Let me wipe it off for you."
Jiang Haitang took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the flour off Lu Liangchen's face.
The two people looked at each other with tenderness and affection.
It took Jiang Haitang a while to remember that they were in the cafeteria and Uncle Zhang was still watching them.
She quickly pushed Lu Liangchen away.
“I’m going to make mooncakes.”
She hurriedly cut a piece of dough from a large piece, rolled it into a thin square sheet with a rolling pin, spread it with turmeric, sprinkled it with bitter bean powder, added brown sugar, and finally brushed it with a layer of sesame oil.
Then, she folded the dough layer by layer and pressed it into a round shape.
Finally, she took out a small piece of dough, rolled it thinly and covered the pressed mooncakes.
The prototype of the mooncake is ready.
"Is that all?"
Lu Liangchen is not a local, and it was his first time seeing steamed mooncakes, so he was very curious.
"We need to stick some dough flowers on it to make it look nice."
Jiang Haitang said this and started making dough flowers.
She took a small piece of dough and in a few seconds, she made it into the shape of a lying little tiger.
She pinched out four little tigers in one breath, which made Lu Liangchen sigh in admiration.
"You can actually make dough figurines?"
Jiang Haitang smiled and said, "We country folks all know how to do this. Next year, I'll make a rabbit."
She took a look and thought the noodle tiger was a little ugly, so she picked up two chopsticks, dipped them in turmeric and bitter bean powder respectively, and poked a few dots on the noodle tiger's body.
After a while, Jiang Haitang had glued the four little tigers to the mooncakes vividly.
Jiang Haitang took a look at it, then pinched out a few peonies and stuck them on the mooncake, dotted the surroundings with tiny flowers, and finally inlaid a few jujubes.
In an instant, the whole mooncake looked different.
"Oh, I've watched people make mooncakes for years, but this is the first time I've seen one as beautiful as this."
"When I was in the countryside, I made rose and pepper leaf flavors, which smelled even better. This year, the conditions are not right, so I can only make brown sugar and original flavors." Jiang Haitang said this with a little regret.
A large steamer can hold three such mooncakes. Jiang Haitang made twelve at once, filling all three layers of the steamer before steaming them.
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